Kelly Brothers take the ‘family-run’ gong
A band of Ballydesmond brothers and their sister picked up the gong for the best family run business at the IRD Duhallow awards ceremony.
Kelly Farm Modernisation (KFM) Ltd was established in 1977 and its directors consist of four brothers – Sean, Tadhg, Eamon and Neil. Their sister, Catherine is the company secretary.
Accepting the award, Sean Kelly thanked the judges and all the people involved who made it possible for them in Duhallow over the last number of years.
With a grin, he said behind every great man is a great woman and none more so than a Kerry woman who was present at the awards.
The company was originally set up to provide agricultural services to the local area. This mainly consisted of land drainage, land reclamation, silage harvesting and machinery hire. But they expanded over the years and diversified into sports complexes, forestry services, civil engineering and quarry products while continuing to provide a full range of agricultural services. They now employ 45 staff locally and are very proud of being a rural based company in Ballydesmond.
Awards finalist Infinity English College in Kanturk is run by husband and wife team Thomas and Michelle Horgan. They purchased the convent on Church Street, Kanturk two years ago and developed it as a destination for junior students from Europe and the rest of the world. From January 2018 to September 2018, the college has brought 760 tourists to Kanturk and Thomas and Michelle believe there is scope for considerable growth with the support of local business owners, host families and tourism organisations.
The other finalist, Corkery Alucast Enterprise Ltd, employs 15 and it was started in 1992 by John and Helena Corkery, initially doing fascia, soffit and gutters under the name Alufit.
In 2004 John founded a company called Alucast to cater for the rapidly expanding markets in cast iron and cast aluminium rainwater systems. Now, both companies operate under the Alucast name. They now supply and fit PVC, cast iron and cast aluminium fasia, soffit and gutters.
In 2008 they expanded their range to include Aqua-flo, Aqua-BX, pressed aluminium, fascia and soffit and gutter range, and along the way have even developed a clip system that is unique to Alucast.
Eight years ago, they moved into a purposely built 20,000 sq ft manufacturing plant in Kanturk.